The coalition’s secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin said it had been a month since the issue cropped up, in which people had complained of being automatically registered without their consent for the scheme, dubbed “Program Insan”.
Yet Anwar, who is also finance minister, had remained mum over the issue, said Hamzah, who is the parliamentary opposition leader.
“I find it weird that the finance minister has kept silent when an infringement has clearly taken place,” he said in a statement.
Registering consumers illegally violates the Financial Services Act 2013 and therefore is a crime, he said.
Last Sunday, communications and digital minister Fahmi Fadzil said the personal data protection department was looking into complaints of misuse of personal data for the scheme.
Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari said the state government pre-registered Selangor residents for the scheme with data it obtained from the Election Commission’s electoral roll.
He said the insurance policy would only be underwritten after the person agrees and uploads a selfie and a photo of their identity card.
Hamzah said Anwar must explain why a private firm was appointed to manage the programme instead of Selgate, a Selangor government-linked company which had the financial means and expertise to handle such an initiative.
He said Anwar should not ignore the Insan issue as many believed that some form of misappropriation had taken place, with reports having been lodged with the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“This is a serious allegation that needs to be debunked by the finance minister,” he said. There was no reason that the likes of MACC could not investigate the matter in view of what he described as their “fantastic record” in investigating and charging PN leaders.
In March, PN chairman and Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin was charged with four counts of abuse of power and three counts of money laundering in connection with the awarding of government contracts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Muhyiddin was acquitted by the High Court in August of four charges of abusing his power to obtain RM232 million in bribes for his party. He still faces three charges of money laundering involving RM200 million.
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